More than 25 participants from 20 countries came to Santa Marta, Colombia on September 12, 2017 for the 8th ICAN workshop on “Coastal Web Atlases enhancing Ocean Literacy (OL)”. The workshop kicked off with an overview of the origins and development of ocean literacy initiatives around the world and followed up by outlining the underlying principles. Subsequent presentations covered a variety of themes ranging from how to communicate the risks of tropical storms in Central America, empowering local fishing communities in Brazil all the way to using classical literature within WebGIS content to raise appreciation of local coastal environments and to demonstrate the connectivity of inland areas to the sea. Lively discussions ensued on how Coastal Web Atlas development can support the variety of ocean literacy initiatives, which are emerging in the context of the UN Ocean Conferences call for action towards the SDG 14. The ICAN Steering Group and all participants of ICAN 8 would like to thank INVEMAR, Colombia’s Institute for Marine and Coastal Research, not only for hosting ICAN 8 but for the warm welcome and amazing hospitality, which made everyone feel welcome and contributed to the success of this workshop.

The ICAN 8 workshop: Coastal Web Atlases – Enhancing Ocean Literacy, Santa Marta, Colombia, 11-12 September 2017 will explore how a coastal web atlas (CWA) can contribute to and support ocean literacy initiatives and will examine the role of CWAs in advancing ocean literacy with different audiences. Ocean literacy is the understanding of the ocean's influence on you and your influence on the ocean. The International Coastal Atlas Network (ICAN) is hosting the ICAN 8 workshop in 2017 to reflect on how a Coastal Web Atlas (CWA) can help to:

Increase understanding of the importance of the ocean to humankind,

Aid communication about the ocean in a meaningful way

Support informed and responsible decision making regarding the ocean and its resources

The ICAN Steering Group invites abstract submissions for the ICAN 8 workshop under the following overarching thematic areas:

Opportunities for CWAs to improve ocean literacy

Challenges in CWA development and usage for ocean literacy

Linking in with other coastal and marine networks and organisations to explore the potential role of ICAN and ICAN CWAs within enhancing ocean literacy

At the 22 nd Session of the International Oceano-graphic Data and Exchange (IODE) committeeof the UNESCO IntergovernmentalOceanographic Commission (IOC) that concluded inEnsenada, Mexico on 15 March 2013, ICAN was accepted as an official project of the IODE. A modest budget through until 2015 was also approved. In the recommendation leading to the approval, the IODE noted “with appreciation that ICAN has already influenced, guided and informed users on development and use of coastal and marine web atlases, through periodic workshops and international conferences held in 2006, 007, 2008, 2009, and 2011.” and acknowledged “the importance of atlases as interdisciplinary products that assist decision mak-ers .” The recommendation also encouraged Member States to support the development of IODE/ICAN

ICAN is very pleased to announce that "ICAN - Best Practice Guide to Engage your Coastal Web Atlas User Community" is now available as IOC Manuals and Guides No. 75

We have compiled this best practice user interaction guide because successful interactions with potential Coastal Web Atlas (CWA) users during the development of any CWA are as vital for the success of the resource as the continued interaction with existing audiences to ensure longevity and continued use. This hand book is conceived as a practical “cookbook” and was compiled by gathering information from ten atlas developers as well as extracting relevant information from ICAN workshop reports. The information has been summarised and analysed leading to two sets of recommendations, one focused on the development of new atlases and the other focused on how to maintain interactions with audiences of already developed atlases. We hope that the handbook will therefore allow both new and established CWA developers and hosts to benefit from best practice examples as well as learn from experienced challenges, in order to increase capacity to successfully interact with user communities and target audiences, while managing coastal and marine data and information in a user friendly way. The final product is a resource that hopes to complement and link to a variety of OceanTeacher activities, support IODE training in courses, thereby being of value to all who manage and present marine data and information.

Roy has made numerous contributions to IODE over the past 3 decades beginning with the software to accompany General Format 3 (GF3) in the 1980s an early attempt at interoperability! The (GF3) system was developed by IODE as a generalised formatting system for the exchange and archival of data within the international oceanographic community. The next stage of Roy's career was spent compiling integrated data sets from major multidisciplinary oceanographic field programmes for UK, European and international projects, including leading the Joint Global Ocean Flux Study (JGOFS) Data Management Task Team. This also included a lot of work on controlled vocabularies which has evolved into one of his main areas of interest and impact. In particular, over the last 10 years or so, he has focused on the development of semantic infrastructure both in terms of technical and content governance. Roy is responsible for the semantic framework underpinning the EU SeaDataNet project (which includes IODE) and has also led the ontologies work package for the NETwork for MARine Environmental Data (NETMAR) project and the ICAN coastal erosion and water quality ontologies. One final area of Roy's influence which should be mentioned is his contribution to the emerging subject of data publication and citation, through his contribution to the workshops and case studies of the joint project establishedbetween SCOR, MBLWHOI and IODE to investigate this topic.

Join us in Santa Marta, Colombia!

The ICAN 8 workshop: Coastal Web Atlases – Enhancing Ocean Literacy, Santa Marta, Colombia, 11-12 September 2017 will explore how a coastal web atlas (CWA) can contribute to and support ocean literacy initiatives and will examine the role of CWAs in advancing ocean literacy with different audiences. Ocean literacy is the understanding of the ocean's influence on you and your influence on the ocean